Nicol Epple ENG 764 Writing Response-Wk4, Day 1 Poetry and Love
In thinking about what comes to my mind when I think of love poetry, the popular words, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways….” And until I googled it, I did not know that it was written by E.B.B.! How appropriate. I found the lines to the poem and love it all the more after having studied more of E.B.B. Do not think this poem trite! If read as if for the first time, it is rife with lyricism, beauty of thought, and transcendent thoughts.
XLIII. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
These are the lines that I think of when I think of love poetry. But, of course, I know there are as many expressions of love as there are people. For example Constance Naden expresses love in tandem and/or contest with intellect. In “Evolutional Erotics” she states “”Thee, dear one, will I ever cherish;/ Thy worshipped image shall remain/ In the grey thought-cells of my brain/ Until their form and function perish” (27-30). Most would not consider “grey thought-cells of my brain” romantic, but it works. Rather, it moves the heart. And after reading of Naden’s intellectual and artistic giftedness one can understand how she particularly would marry mind and heart when both were one in her.
One aspect of love present in Naden’s, “The Two Artist’s” and “Love’s Mirror” is the idea of idealistic love, an idealistic love that borders on an unrealistic expectation. The narrator in “Love’s Mirror” boldly proclaims “Cast out the Goddess! Let me in” (7). She saying, “Give up the mirage! I am here in front of your face.” What patience and understanding she has! Or blind love. At the end of the poem the narrator continues optimistically “And, while I love you more and more,/ My spirit, gazing on the light,/ Becomes, in loveliness and might,/ The glorious Vision you adore” (19-22). Wishful thinking I say. And a little sad—she expects to become, in his eyes, the embodiment of his Vision. My question is-why is she worth him in the first place? Love is blind.
In Rossetti’s poem, “In an Artist’s Studio,” again a man has visions of love. This one lives in the canvas. Rossetti writes twice that she “Not as she is” but “as she fills his dream” (13-14). Another mirage of love. But such subjects are for poetry.
ENG 764
Writing Response-Wk4, Day 1
Poetry and Love
XLIII. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
These are the lines that I think of when I think of love poetry. But, of course, I know there are as many expressions of love as there are people. For example Constance Naden expresses love in tandem and/or contest with intellect. In “Evolutional Erotics” she states “”Thee, dear one, will I ever cherish;/ Thy worshipped image shall remain/ In the grey thought-cells of my brain/ Until their form and function perish” (27-30). Most would not consider “grey thought-cells of my brain” romantic, but it works. Rather, it moves the heart. And after reading of Naden’s intellectual and artistic giftedness one can understand how she particularly would marry mind and heart when both were one in her.
One aspect of love present in Naden’s, “The Two Artist’s” and “Love’s Mirror” is the idea of idealistic love, an idealistic love that borders on an unrealistic expectation. The narrator in “Love’s Mirror” boldly proclaims “Cast out the Goddess! Let me in” (7). She saying, “Give up the mirage! I am here in front of your face.” What patience and understanding she has! Or blind love. At the end of the poem the narrator continues optimistically “And, while I love you more and more,/ My spirit, gazing on the light,/ Becomes, in loveliness and might,/ The glorious Vision you adore” (19-22). Wishful thinking I say. And a little sad—she expects to become, in his eyes, the embodiment of his Vision. My question is-why is she worth him in the first place? Love is blind.
In Rossetti’s poem, “In an Artist’s Studio,” again a man has visions of love. This one lives in the canvas. Rossetti writes twice that she “Not as she is” but “as she fills his dream” (13-14). Another mirage of love. But such subjects are for poetry.